If you recall a few posts back I mentioned something about what God prepares us for and in another one I mentioned that God gives us the qualities we need to be a particular child's mother. This is another one of those posts.
As I was making pancakes this evening, it came to me clear as day "Here is your story for tonight." No, it's not about how to make pancakes, but the fact that God gave me certain qualities to be able to care for the children he has entrusted to me. One of those qualities is cooking.
Now I don't claim to be a top chef or baker by any means, but I can cook. There is an art and a science to the cooking. My mathematical mind just loves the entire chemistry side to cooking and knowing that molecules of one item combined with the right temperature and another item become something entirely new. The art of cooking comes in the feeling, the part that can't be taught in any book or online recipe.
Take making bread. Sure you can try to provide someone with direct instructions about how many times to knead the dough, but in the end it all comes down to feeling. You have to feel the dough and know exactly what it should feel like to get that perfect loaf. The same is true for other baked goods, there is a look and a feeling involved that goes beyond exact measurements.
I was blessed to be allowed to try out cooking and to learn my way around the kitchen when I was young. This chance to practice and learn to enjoy certain aspects in cooking was preparing me for something in life I never dreamed I would face.
God blessed me with three beautiful, smart children. Two of those children have multiple food allergies that requires thinking outside the box when it comes to meal times and desserts. Of course a little help from Google searches is appreciated, but that part is just the science of cooking. To really get foods to turn out tasty when using ingredients that otherwise may not be tasty, it takes some creativity to go beyond the basic recipe and the art...knowing what it should look and feel like as you are cooking.
This evening I thank God for preparing me years ago to be able to provide what my children need today.
But there is more to this story. Tonight as I prepared Bradley safe lollipops and hard candy I started thinking.
To make this candy it only takes 3 ingredients: sugar, water, and flavoring oil. That's all. Three simple ingredients in the right proportion at the right temperature.
Take a close look at the candy thermometer. At 220 it is just the right temperature for jelly, a few degrees more and it is syrup, at 240 fudge/soft ball, 250 firm ball, 260 hard ball, 280 soft candy, and then at about 300 degrees hard candy.
The more you cook these kinds of foods, the more you can rely on look before you insert your thermometer so you don't have to stand there making sure the thermometer is set just so. As I watched the sugar water mixture slowly begin to boil and the become nothing but a mess of white bubbles, I got to thinking.
God made us all unique yet in his image. As I watched that solution boil, I started wondering about our circumstances in life. How many times does life heat up and then we react. I can't help but wonder what happens if we pull out or give up too soon. If you put together the ingredients for fudge and pull the pot off the stove too soon, that fudge isn't going to set up. The sugar didn't get a chance to make the complete change it needs to make to move from a liquid substance to be ready to turn into fudge after setting.
So before you give up, stop and ask yourself if you have waiting until just the right temperature. I promise, God has a plan and the trials we go through are meant to make us stronger. For some of us that stronger may be simply moving from being jelly to being fudge. Others of us have been fixated on fudge and God is ready for us to become even stronger like hard candy. But if we throw in the towel before he is through with us, then it is going to take that much longer to make us stronger.
As you reflect on your story, can you find places where God may have pushed you a little harder? Can you think of places where you gave up quickly and wish you hadn't? What about your qualities? Do you have certain attributes that maybe you take for granted, but God provided opportunities throughout your life to hone your craft so you can do his work?
Let us pray:
God, Thank you for the insight tonight. I have struggled to share the past few nights and when I was still enough, I was able to hear you. Help me Lord to be still more often so that I may hear your voice clearly. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment